Celtic chairman John Reid pledges to keep the club's finances under control

Those who believe that the attendance at Parkhead in midweek was meagre
because of the rumour that there would be a whip round to help Rangers in
their financial plight may have been surprised by the fact that, at Celtic’s
annual general meeting on Friday, comment on the woes of the blue half of
the Old Firm divide was distinctly muted.

It is, of course, only 15 years since Celtic themselves came within minutes of bankruptcy, before the intervention of Fergus McCann, and in recent years the board has taken heat from the Celtic support for what many have perceived to be a niggardly attitude towards transfer spending.

Recent events have presented the directors with the opportunity to parade their prudence against a background of financial turmoil elsewhere that could fairly be described as turmoil, as John Reid, the Celtic chairman, took pains to point out.

“In the past week alone that could apply to Hull, Portsmouth and Rangers and in principle it could apply to the Royal Bank of Scotland, to anywhere else,” said Reid.

“That’s why I say look around you – great institutions are falling apart or finding themselves in hock to others, from banks to commercial concerns and governments. You don’t become dependent on a financial institution because you borrow some money from it.

“You become controlled by a financial institution and utterly dependent on it if your level of debt to that institution is greater than you can afford. You can’t just borrow endless amounts of money to try and make up for the financial advantages that your competitors have.

“That way lies ruin. The vast majority of fans and shareholders know that.

“You have to make sure you don’t fall in to the populist trap of trying to buy an easy ride for the next few months by selling the future of the club and that is what we won’t do.”

Reid also condemned racist chanting by visiting supporters to Celtic Park and cited the visit of Hamburg in the Europa League. “It still goes on and we heard it in the Hamburg game the other night,” said Reid.

“I have two uncles who died fighting a poisonous regime, at the heart of which was racism. They were called Nazis.

“So since I was 17 or 18 I have held the view that the vast majority of British people do, that you judge someone according to their inherent values and actions not their races, or background or colour.”

One point of jollity at the AGM occurred when a shareholder demanded that Tony Mowbray should order Georgios Samaras to get his hair cut and to loud applause another said that Gary Caldwell should have been sent home on the day of the Europa League game against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel last month for discussing his contract demands with the media.

When a representative from the Celtic Supporters Trust complained about the atmosphere, Reid did take a potshot at Rangers, with the retort: “If you want a boring crowd of Holy Willies, go over to the other side of the city.”

Afterwards, however, Reid said: “Maybe it was a bit harsh and I should have been more emollient.”

For all the opinions that were aired by shareholders and directors, a football club does its talking on the pitch. In that respect, it is surely fair to suggest that Celtic have been in stuttering form this season, as the much touted statistic of two home wins from nine competitive outings indicates.

This afternoon the home record will be tested again, this time by Kilmarnock, but while acknowledging the bare facts of the club’s record in the east end of Glasgow, Tony Mowbray insisted that the quality of opposition and performances should also be taken into account.

“I break it down and analyse every game,” said the Celtic manager. “We were disappointed that we lost to Arsenal, Hamburg and Moscow Dynamo, of course, but in my own mind I know that we were competent in each of these games.

“In football, though, it doesn’t always go your way. Arsenal were the only team to beat us by more than one goal and I would like to think that the work we’re doing will bring its reward and we will start to win in such tight games.”

Celtic are without their captain, Stephen McManus, who is suspended after having been sent off for violent conduct in injury time in the 1-0 Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final defeat to Hearts after having fouled Andy Driver.

McManus’s absence offers Glenn Loovens an opportunity to partner Gary Caldwell in central defence, where he will face the raw but definite threat of Kevin Kyle, who scored twice last week in the 2-1 victory over St Johnstone.

Celtic, in their turn, will attempt to pressure Cameron Bell, who will take Mark Brown’s place in the Kilmarnock goal. Brown is on loan to the Ayrshire club and is prohibited from playing.

Bell admitted on Friday that he thought his chance of playing first team football had diminished when Jim Jefferies acquired Brown after Alan Combe sustained a long term injury, but said: “The manager pulled me aside and told me he had a chance to bring someone in with experience, which I understand.

“It was frustrating for me but you just have to get on with it, work hard and show the manager that you can do a job for a him. That’s all I can do at the moment.

“I was disappointed when I got dropped but these things happen and you just need to get on with it. This is a great chance for me. It’s a big stage playing at Parkhead but I’m looking forward to getting back in the team and if I do myself justice and play well I can maybe keep myself in the team.”